As if Riley weren’t enough, we also have a guinea pig, Timothy, and he hates all things. He especially hates being picked up. This makes it hard to clean his cage. We have a large playpen for Riley – her puppy time out – and a few months ago I had the brilliant idea of putting Timmy in there (without Riley, of course) while I cleaned his cage. Except the openings between bars were too big and Timmy deftly escaped. Today I tried again, only this time I lined the playpen with a sheet and secured it to the sides, keeping the piggy safe within. I could then clean his cage quickly and easily, and Timmy had some time to exercise as he frantically searched for his Pigloo. I put Riley on her lead in the backyard so I could do this unfettered. And while I was patting myself on the back for my ingenuity, Riley was in the backyard, digging a hole to China. Sigh.
Heather Idell 